Just in case y’all have been itching for some 80’s/90’s vibes to grace your TV screen ever since “The New Edition Story” had all of us Old Schoolers glued to it last year (2017), no need to fear, En Vogue, SWV, and Salt-N-Pepa are here! In newly released reports, word on the Old School curb is that BET is droppin’ all kinds of throwback nostalgia on us, in their new line-up of TV Shows and the legendary groups we just mentioned are included in it.
https://youtu.be/y2RKb1R7jM0
Their New TV Show Details
The thing that’s catching the attention of many, is not only the fact that we’ll get to see some of our favorite groups on TV again, but also the fact that SWV, Salt-N-Pepa, and En Vogue are barking upon this new journey together. According to The Hollywood Reporter, BET is releasing a 10-episode docu-series titled, “Ladies Night,” featuring the three groups, who have had more drama than a lil’ bit and a lot of stories to share as a result. The series will reportedly be filmed during SWV, En Vogue, and Salt-N-Pepa’s upcoming tour.
All three groups are also working on individual projects: En Vogue just dropped their new album, “Electric Cafe.” SWV are said to be working on a biopic of their own. Salt N’ Pepa are constantly performing and shutting shows DOWN.
Now, we’re not sure which controversial topics and past group struggles will be covered on the show, but like we said, they’ve each had their fair share of them throughout the years- and understandably so. It’s hard as hell to maintain a music group, there are several personalities to manage and several different types of directions members naturally grow into over time, that may cause conflict with one another. So any group, like these ladies, as well as others, such as New Edition, deserve a major round of applause for being able to still keep it going in spite of.
https://youtu.be/8-WFNbMohTQ
En Vogue’s Past Beef With Each Other
At any rate, just to give y’all a taste of some of the past group struggles we may, or may not get to see covered on the “Ladies Night” docuseries, here’s a recap of En Vogue’s (which now consists of Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron and newest member, Rhona Bennett) past beef with their prior founding members, Maxine Jones and Dawn Robinson:
Via Red Fix- In 1994…Maxine says a new record label wanted to sign them to a lucrative $15 million deal, but the girls couldn’t come to an agreement. Maxine felt this would be a way to get out of what she considered a bad deal with [their producer] Denzil and his co-producer Thomas McElroy. “We had the upper hand and had proven ourselves so it was time to fix our agreement,” she adds, “We sold 30 million records and the group never financially capitalized on the success.”
Terry Ellis and Cindy Herron sided with the founding producers and Maxine and Dawn Robinson wanted the new deal. For two years the girls fought, [then they eventually] ran out of money and signed the deal with the old record label and the old producers and released EV3. [Each of them took] home around $280,000 before taxes. “We had been off for two or three years. We all needed that deal,” Maxine admits. Dawn was still unhappy and wanted out — so she walked away from the name and even ownership of the group.
That led to further turmoil and eventually there were two…En Vogues. Maxine and Dawn started touring as En Vogue. Terry and Cindy weren’t trying to hear that, so they took Maxine to court to prevent her from using their name:
“The arbitrator asked me ‘Who should I give the name too?’ Maxine says. Her response was, “I can’t imagine you taking their right to use the name –- we all had a stake in building it. Let the fans decide which En Vogue they want to see because we’re all En Vogue. We all busted our a**es to make that name what it is. We all should have the right to use the name. I wouldn’t dream of taking anything from them.” -Via RF
The ending result was that Terry and Cindy won the right to use the name and Maxine says she eventually had to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy after taking a financial hit from that legal process.
